Kobbie Mainoo is struggling for minutes at Man Utd and his development is stalling as a result of his lack of game time.
Kobbie Mainoo was ahead of Adam Wharton during Euro 2024 but roles have been reversed since then
When Kobbie Mainoo was playing for England in a major tournament final at the age of 19, Carlos Baleba had just finished a quiet first season at Brighton, starting only 15 Premier League games. In the North East, Elliot Anderson started just 10 games for Newcastle that season, having only just broken into the England Under-21 squad.
Adam Wharton was at least with Mainoo in Germany during Euro 2024. However, while Mainoo came into the team and started every knockout game, Wharton was left kicking his heels, unable to get on the pitch during the tournament.
Fast forward 18 months, and Baleba, Anderson and Wharton are all being touted as £100million players who might hold the key to transforming Manchester United’s midfield. In an ideal but probably unrealistic world, two of them might end up at Old Trafford next summer.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to pan out for Mainoo. Anderson is now a key cog in England’s midfield and Wharton started in place of the Nottingham Forest man in the Three Lions’ last World Cup qualifier. Mainoo, on the other hand, hasn’t played for his country since September 2024.
The problem for Mainoo is that the gap is growing. In the summer of 2024, everyone expected the Stockport-born youngster would be the solution to United’s midfield woes, but under Ruben Amorim, that doesn’t look likely right now.
This season, Anderson has played 1,170 minutes of Premier League football, Wharton has 869 minutes in the league and Baleba has 701 minutes. Mainoo? Just 171 minutes. Development is often a numbers game, and Mainoo is being left behind.
He hasn’t started a single Premier League game so far this season and you have to wonder when that is going to change. He isn’t going to get any better as a player for 15 or 20 minutes here and there, and nothing that is happening in training seems to be convincing Amorim at the moment.
Mainoo’s future is rightly a hot topic amongst United fans. A number of academy graduates have been moved on recently and the 20-year-old has often been the only link keeping the club’s proud 88-year record of having an academy product in every matchday squad going.
There is also a feeling that he is being underused by Amorim and deserves more than a chance. But if that isn’t forthcoming, then a loan move in January might well be the best option for both parties. Mainoo’s development has stalled because he isn’t playing football.
It will probably sting the player himself to see contemporaries being linked with a move to United to fill a position he had seemed to nail down in the 2023/24 season. If he wants to prove to Amorim that he can still be a player of the quality of Baleba, Anderson or Wharton, then he needs the game time to do so.
If that isn’t forthcoming at United, then letting him go elsewhere to get games in the second half of this season might well be the solution. It doesn’t have to be the prelude to a permanent departure, but it could allow Mainoo to rebuild his form and confidence, and give him a platform to show that he can be part of Amorim’s midfield rebuild as well.
